During the week of March 11, Quixote Center, together with our partners with the Franciscan Network on Migration, organized and led a group of U.S.-based immigration advocates and policy experts to visit the migrant path in Panama, starting with the treacherous Darien Gap. Our Panama colleagues released a report in response to what we witnessed at the Darien.
Our colleagues note the following concerns:
- Reports of human rights violations on the migratory route through the Darien jungle have increased.
- The business of transporting migrants is profitable.
- The absence of Church presence in the Migratory Reception Stations is very striking especially given the presence of outside NGOs. Spiritual accompaniment would be beneficial.
- We are concerned about the atmosphere of tension and violence that exists in the Migratory Reception Stations. Those who were assaulted in the Darien do not find the way to continue the journey since there is no facility to get the money. Wouldn't it make more sense to evacuate most of the migrants from the Stations free of charge?
- The issue of health in the community is of concern to us. Medical care in the Darien province is limited.
- Another of our concerns is that the spaces to house migrants built by international NGOs are within the community, next to the homes of indigenous people. We are concerned that some migrants come from places with endemic diseases, such as cholera, that could be transmitted to the local population.
- We are concerned about environmental destruction in the Darien from garbage and waste.
Among other solutions, our colleagues propose a regular spiritual accompaniment and presence of teams in the migrant reception centers, to provide support and protection to the migrants and also to enable regular monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation. This will give them the information to work with their government to effect needed change.
With your support, Quixote Center will participate in this accompaniment effort. The planning is happening now, and we will send updates as we have them.
Read the full report here.
